Sleigh Rides: A Marie Antoinette Fanfiction
by smacked lover 22
Summary: The infamous story of Marie Antoinette's sleigh riding adventures from the point of view of the Princess de Lamballe.


"Come on let's go" she whispered, the slightest trace of an Austrian accent was still present beneath the French one she faked.

I studied her apprehensively, wishing I could possessive such courage, but I had been at Versailles far too long.

I knew what would happen to the pretty fresh faced fourteen year old, who stood before me, she would be torn to shreds by the bitter members of the court, so opposed to the change this Austrian girl might bring.

She smiled up at me with those big blue eyes practically begging me to join in her fun; she was so innocent, so unaware of the evil which surrounded her.

"Please" she giggled twisting one of her powdered gray curls around her finger.

I knew they must be driving her crazy, she must miss her own strawberry blonde hair, when she was Maria Antonia the archduchess of Austria she could leave it down, let it get tangled as she ran through the gardens with her dogs laughing and playing like the child she was but now she was Marie Antoinette the dauphin of France and she must wear a powdered fussy wig at all times. Maybe the weight of her wig represented the weight of the world which sat on her petite shoulders waiting for her to crumble.

Looking back on those days I still wonder if she knew that everyone was watching her every move, scrutinizing every word she spoke.

If she did she never let it show, I don't remember ever seeing her falter.

Though she would often times weep of her misfortune to me she never once let the court know it.

It amazed me how the same girl who had been sobbing hours ago would arrive at dinner just as confident and self-assured as ever.

"Alright I'll go" I said finally succumbing to the temptation of an afternoon away from the court.

"Thank you" she shrieked clapping her hands together with glee and throwing her arms around me like she had done so many times before.

At the time our sisterly affection seemed so innocent, she never seemed to think twice about wrapping her arms around my neck as a form of greeting or planting a small kiss on my cheek.

How were we, two teenage girls, to know how our close relationship would spark such nasty rumors?

Antoinette was my sister, nothing more, nothing less but in the eyes of the people we had sinned, we had shamed the nation.

Not that either of us gave the allegations any serious thought. Looking back it was not too late to save her public image, the people still trusted the dauphin, there were so many things we could have done but we were both far too haughty, too self-absorbed to care.

I followed my friend outside through the palace court yards, I still couldn't believe we were really going to do this but then again it shouldn't have shocked me, being friends with Antoinette nothing should come as a shock anymore. In the twenty years I served as her faithful lady in waiting I saw the best and worst sides of humanity, I saw pamphlets destroy the queen's good name, I saw children being torn away from their mother but I also saw a woman who had been so wronged for so many years give generously to her people never once expecting as much as a thank you.

Eventually we reached the stables where the sleighs were being distributed.

A servant bowed to Antoinette as she passed but the rest of the court simply whispered amongst themselves. I knew they were speculating about what the two of us had been doing, at the time we laughed it off saying they had nothing better to do. Antoinette found it amusing so I never let it bother me.

I would give anything to go back to those days, when she still had a fighting chance of redemption.

I know it's silly to think I could change our fates but maybe if I had said something to Antoinette she would have realized how serious the matter was.

But I didn't, I had finally found a friend at Versailles and I wasn't going to jeopardize that.

"Will you be joining us your highness" the governess Antoinette had nicknamed Madame Severe asked glaring at me as if the dauphins constant tardiness was somehow my fault.

"No thank you Madame" she replied sweetly, not showing even the slightest signs of nervousness "I don't feel well so Lamballe and shall stay here and rest."

The woman gave us both incriminating stares but didn't respond.

I noticed that no one ever went up against Antoinette, though they all made snide remarks behind her back not one person had the courage to express their opinion to her face.

It only took the sleighing party a matter of minutes to embark on their journey, the second the sound of bells became too distant to be heard Antoinette turned to me clapping her hands together with glee.

I tried to fake a smile but inside I was terrified.

Why couldn't I be more like her, fun and adventurous? The whole world stopped and fell at her feet, something she was well aware of.

Deep down I knew the answer, widowed before my nineteenth birthday I became destined to go through life alone, with no husband, no children and no hopes of remarrying.

Upon my arrival at Versailles I had locked myself away in my private quarters and wept day in and day out until two years after my misfortune had struck the dauphin was set to be wed to the archduchess of Austria.

Forced by my title to attend the wedding I sat at the head table with the couple.

I guess I caught Antoinette's eye because she sent for me within the month, inviting me to one of her sleighing parties.

We became friends instantly within a few months of meeting we were inseparable.

She was my saving grace, an angel of mercy sent from the heavens above to save me from my sorrow.

We spent countless nights in my room, she listened as I cried over the not only the loss of my husband but the loss of my future.

I was well aware over the controversy surrounding our friendship but I never took it personally everything Antoinette did caused controversy.

It wasn't her fault though; she simply like myself was not intended for court life. She was far too adventurous and fun to be cooped up in the palace all day.

That's how the fad of sleighing parties came about.

The young dauphin insisted on being allowed to go out so the king eventually gave into her like he did to all pretty women and allowed her to go for sleigh rides within the palace grounds.

The problem was Antoinette soon grew bored of this like she grew bored of everything and wanted to venture into the city.

I tried to convince her so many times that it was a bad idea; with her unpopularity in the court wouldn't she prefer to stay inside, away from anything that might get her into trouble.

She didn't listen though convinced it was harmless fun she insisted we go.

That was probably Antoinette's biggest flaw, her love for fun.

As the leading lady of the court she was expected to be serious regal at all times but she was still in that awkward rebellious stage where she refused to listen to reason and did whatever she pleased.

She always managed to giggle through court ceremonies or yawn loudly when reprimanded by her governess.

Looking back I should have tried harder after all she considered me to be an older sister she may have listened, she may have changed.

"Come on" she whined beckoning me over to the single sleigh which remained.

"I'm coming" I laughed climbing in beside her; Antoinette wasn't going to listen to me so I might as well try and relax.

"Don't be so nervous" she instructed taking the reins.

I felt a wave of relief wash over me as we left the palace grounds, we had managed to sneak out unnoticed surly we would not be caught now.

As the sleigh traveled down the winding path leading to the city a light dusting of snow began to fall from the sky.

"My wig is ruined" Antoinette giggled not paying any mind to the price of the wig which was indeed ruined.

I laughed resting my head on her shoulder, if I had not been so caught up in the moment it may have occurred to me that my innocent action would surly spark more rumors.

But Antoinette was rubbing off on me so I threw caution to the wind and snuggled up next to my friend under the masses of fur which sheltered us from the cold winter air.

It never occurred to me how we must look, two rich aristocratic woman parading around Paris giggling and whispering wrapped in the finest furs the city had to offer completely oblivious to the poverty which surrounded us.

Unfortunately for Antoinette neither of understood the importance of public image until it was too late.

That day will remain vividly ingrained in my mind until the day I die, some days I will look back and laugh at the court's reaction to seeing the dauphin riding through the palace gates with her strawberry blonde hair sticking out from under her wig, her cheeks completely red from the frozen air but some days I will become angry, angry at Antoinette and I for not understanding that our actions would have consequences, not only for us but for her children who were at the time a distant thought but usually angry at the court and the people of France for not understanding that she was simply a child, for tearing apart everything she did.

She never seemed phased by it but I knew she was, sometimes when we were alone she would sob, saying she was not cut out to be queen.

I often look back and wonder if she saw the strength in herself I did, I don't think she realized it at the time but every time she laughed at one of those pamphlets or refused to fuel the rumors she showed the true makings of a queen.

After hours of merrily sleighing through the streets of Paris we decided to return to the palace and face the wrath.

I was petrified that the king would hear of our actions but Antoinette didn't seem afraid at all, but then again she never did.

At the time I thought she was fearless but looking back I know she wasn't. The dauphin's lack of affection and the failure to consummate her marriage terrified her, her greatest fear was failing and disappointing the ones she loved. Such a burden never should have been forced upon her but it was and she handled it with such dignity that I often time forgot that she was only fourteen.

Antoinette's fears stemmed from more than wanting to be a good queen, she never said it out loud but I knew the reason she wanted to please everybody so badly was for fear of losing her mother's love.

I think with age she realized it was not love at all but a sick hold the empress had on her youngest daughter.

Regardless it kills me to think of Antoinette going to her grave feeling she failed, when none of it was ever her fault.

I'll never forget the scene which unfolded upon our arrival, it had occurred to me during our adventure that surly someone would notice when we didn't show up for afternoon tea but I never expected what we saw.

I laughed as we pulled up through the palace gates I was so pleased with my first act of defiance against the court that is until I saw the mob of people angrily awaiting us.

Word of adventure must have spread throughout the palace because it seemed that every noble man and woman in France had gathered to see if it was really true, if the dauphin and one of the highest ranking princess's in court had really stolen a sleigh and ridded through the streets of Paris un chaperoned.

It's ridiculous to think that at twenty years of age I couldn't come and go as I pleased but iron restraints stopped Antoinette and I from indulging in even the slightest freedom.

Antoinette climbed down from the sleigh before the servant had a chance to assist her; I however waited patiently allowing the man to aid me.

"What were you to thinking" Antoinette's governess cried flailing her arms around dramatically causing Antoinette and I to giggle.

The two of us always found something to laugh about from mocking the ladies in court to laughing in the face of those who traveled miles to pay Antoinette tribute, when I was around her I forgot that I a princess of high rank and for a few glorious moments I was a normal girl who could laugh and whisper with her friend as much as she like without having to worry about being reprimanded.

Not satisfied with Antoinette's lack of remorse she continued to shout "oh the shame you have brought to this court. What will the peasants think now that we allow the future queen to run wild? And while the citizens of France are in such distress, this court has a reputation to uphold we must be the laughing stock of this good country. And you" she said turning to me rather sharply "you should know better than to lead the dauphin astray."

I simply nodded, defending myself would do no good, as her favorite lady in waiting everything Antoinette did was somehow my fault from her whispering at mass to her failure to produce an heir.

We stood there while she lectured us for a while, neither of us really listening, I suddenly found the loose thread on my dress to be of great interest and Antoinette, well she just stared into space like she always did.

Like a young child she was always distracted, it was nearly impossible to capture her attention for more than a few minutes at a time.

I knew she must be daydreaming about what it was like to be free, not to be followed around by a nosy entourage to simply wake up in the morning and have the whole day ahead of her to do as she pleased.

Finally Madame severe stopped, maybe she grew tired of yelling or maybe she just realized neither of us were listening but regardless of the reason she retired to her room exhausted by the both of us.

Antoinette and I spent the remainder of the day in her private apartment lounging around nibbling on tea cakes and chatting like we always did when court life became too much to deal with.

In reality the amount of time I spent alone with Antoinette was the cause of the pamphlets and speculations but locking ourselves away in her private quarters seemed easier than facing the court so we took full advantage of every opportunity to get away from the palace.

Neither of us understood the importance of her first few years in France but in the time she spent as dauphin we did unimaginable damage to her reputation and that of the court, created a public hatred so strong it would forever alter our lives and formed an unbreakable bond.

As Antoinette so eloquently put it only death itself could separate us and in fact it did, I was murdered and she executed. Some say we could have changed our fate but I believe we were destined to die in such an untimely manner from the moment the crown was placed upon the head of a terrified teenage girl.


End file.
